Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 88[a]
Prayer in Affliction
1 A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.[b] For the director. According to Mahalath. For singing. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
2 [c]O Lord, the God of my salvation,
day and night I cry out to you.
3 Let my prayer come before you;
give ear to my cry for help.
4 [d]For my soul[e] is filled with misery,
and my life draws near to the netherworld.
5 I am numbered among those who go down to the pit;[f]
all strength has failed me.
6 I have been abandoned among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no longer
and whom your hand has abandoned.[g]
7 [h]You have lowered me into the depths of the pit,
into the darkest regions of the abyss.
8 Your wrath lies heavy upon me;
all your waves engulf me. Selah
9 You have caused my closest friends to shun me
and made me hateful in their sight.
I am shut in with no means of escape,[i]
10 and my eyes grow dim[j] with my suffering.
[k]Every day I call out to you, O Lord,
and spread out my hands to you.
11 Do you perform wonders[l] for the dead?
Do the shades rise up and give you praise? Selah
12 Is your kindness[m] celebrated in the grave,
or your faithfulness in the tomb?
13 Are your wonders known in the region of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?[n]
14 [o]But for my part, I cry out to you, O Lord;
in the morning my prayer rises before you.
15 Why do you cast me away, O Lord?[p]
Why do you hide your face from me?
16 Since infancy I have been wretched and close to death;
I have borne your terrors
and have now reached the point of exhaustion.
17 Your wrath has weighed down upon me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
18 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they encircle me completely.
19 You have caused my friends and neighbors to shun me;
my sole companion now is darkness.[q]
Psalm 91[a]
Security under God’s Protection
1 You who abide in the shelter of the Most High,[b]
who rest in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 say to the Lord, “You are my refuge and my fortress,
my God in whom I place my trust.”
3 He will rescue you from the snare of the fowler[c]
and from virulent pestilence.
4 With his feathers he will shelter you,[d]
and you will take refuge under his wings;
his faithfulness serves as a protective shield.
5 You will not fear the terror by night[e]
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the plague[f] that lays waste at midday.
7 Even though a thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
such evils will not afflict you.
8 Rather, your own eyes will behold[g]
the punishment inflicted on the wicked.
9 You have made the Lord your refuge
and chosen the Most High to be your dwelling.
10 Therefore, no evil will threaten you,
no calamity will come near your dwelling.
11 [h]For he will command his angels[i] about you—
to guard you wherever you go.
12 They will lift you up with their hands,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.[j]
13 You will tread upon the asp and the viper;
you will trample the lion and the dragon.[k]
14 [l]“Because he loves me, I will deliver him,
I will raise high[m] the one who acknowledges my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer,
and I will be with him in time of distress;
I will rescue him and cause him to be honored.[n]
16 I will reward him with a long life
and show him my salvation.”[o]
Psalm 92[p]
Praise of God’s Just Rule
1 A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath.[q]
2 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praise to your name,[r] O Most High,
3 to proclaim your kindness[s] in the morning
and your faithfulness during the night,
4 with the ten-stringed harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
5 [t]Your deeds, O Lord, have caused me to exult;
at the works of your hands I shout for joy:
6 How great are your deeds, O Lord!
How profound are your thoughts!
7 [u]A senseless person cannot grasp this;
a fool[v] is unable to comprehend it.
8 Even though the wicked may sprout like grass
and all evildoers may prosper,
they are doomed to eternal destruction,[w]
9 whereas you, O Lord, are exalted forever.[x]
10 Surely your enemies, O Lord,
surely your enemies will perish,
and all evildoers will be scattered.
11 [y]You have given me the strength of a wild bull
and anointed me with fresh oil.
12 My eyes have witnessed the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
13 [z]The righteous will flourish like the palm tree;
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
14 They are planted in the house of the Lord[aa]
and will flourish in the courts of our God.
15 They still will bear fruit, in their old age,
and they will remain fresh and green,
16 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, in whom no injustice can be found.”
41 The Great Persecution.[a] Then the king issued an edict to his whole kingdom that all of his subjects should become a united people, 42 with each nation abandoning its particular customs. All the Gentiles accepted the decree of the king, 43 and many among the Israelites adopted his religion, sacrificing to idols and profaning the Sabbath.
44 The king also sent messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah with edicts commanding them to adopt practices that were foreign to their country: 45 to prohibit holocausts, sacrifices, and libations in the sanctuary, to profane the Sabbaths and feast days, 46 to defile the temple and its priests, to build altars, temples, and shrines for idols, 47 to sacrifice swine[b] and other unclean beasts, 48 to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to allow themselves to be defiled with every kind of impurity and abomination, 49 so that they would forget the law and change all their observances. 50 Anyone who refused to obey the command of the king was to be put to death.
51 These were the terms of the edicts he issued throughout his kingdom. He appointed inspectors to supervise all the people, and he commanded all the towns of Judah to offer sacrifices, town by town. 52 Many of the people, abandoning the law, joined them and committed evil deeds in the land, 53 thereby driving Israel into hiding in every possible place of refuge.
54 On the fifteenth day of the month Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five, the king erected upon the altar of holocausts the abomination that causes desolation, and pagan altars were built in the surrounding towns of Judah. 55 Incense was offered at the doors of the houses and in the streets. 56 Any scrolls of the law that were found were torn to pieces and destroyed by fire. 57 If any people were discovered in possession of a book of the covenant or acting in conformity with the law, they were condemned to death by the decree of the king.
58 Month after month these wicked people used their power against any loyal Israelite found in the towns. 59 On the twenty-fifth day of each month they offered sacrifice on the altar erected on top of the altar of holocausts. 60 In accordance with the royal decree, any women who had their children circumcised were put to death, 61 with their infants hung from their necks; also put to death were their families and those who had circumcised them.
62 Despite all this, many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat any unclean food. 63 They preferred to die rather than to be defiled by such food and profane the holy covenant, and they suffered death for their convictions.
Recapitulative Visions of the History of Salvation[a]
11 The White Horse and the King of Kings.[b] Now I saw heaven opened, and a white horse appeared. Its rider was called “Faithful and True,” for with righteousness he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes were like fiery flames, and on his head were many crowns. The name inscribed on him was known to no one but himself.
13 He was clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and he was known by the name The Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 Coming out of his mouth was a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter, and he will tread the winepress[c] of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh[d] he had a name inscribed: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
13 Peter’s Confession of Christ’s Divinity.[a]When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi,[b] he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the Prophets.” 15 “But you,” he said to them, “who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”[c]
17 Then Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood[d] has not revealed this to you but my heavenly Father. 18 And I say to you: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church,[e] and the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”[f] 20 Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell[g] anyone that he was the Christ.
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